--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:
> *wan^ > uni in Romanian? How come?
apparently there is no "-wan^" > "un". The only phonologic changes
known would be "on" > "un" _and_ "on" > "oan" if "n" was followed in
the next syllable by an "ã" or "e".
> Piotr
My opinion is Marius is misleaded by the "-itsa" suffix here. One has
to remember the other words related to "aluna" here are all deriving
from "aluna" and not from the diminutival "alunitsa": these are
alunish, alun; it is hard to assume the initial word was one which
was later felt as diminutive and because of this, it was regresively
built due reduction of the suffix , thus alunitsa > aluna and from
this new created word, one has an another regresive derivate "alun".
The sufix "-ish" in "alunish" which means "a group of hazelnut trees"
will speak for an very old derivation, older as that with the Latin "-
et". Considering the missing of the nasal in Albanian, the vocalic
difference ("a" versus "u")one remains just with an common "l" in
both languages. And that is too few to consider the words as being
cognates.
Alex